“Last Blast of Summer Weekend”–Cindy Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’

Well, it's Labor Day Weekend and that means summer is coming to an end. Yes, it's sad, but, here at Oldiez 96.1, we want to have a little bit more fun before the sun hides behind the clouds and the beautiful, warm weather turns to a freezing, winter wonderland. This weekend we are featuring party songs as part of our "Last Blast of Summer Weekend" presented by First Source. What's your favorite summer party song? Well, it's impossible not to mention Cindi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" when we talk about rock n' roll party songs, right? In honor of our "Last Blast of Summer Weekend," I've found some fun facts about the song made famous by Lauper.

Cindi Lauper's version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was released in 1983. The song is off of Lauper's "She's So Unusual" album. "It is a synthesizer-backed anthem about the roles of women in society and is considered by many to be a feminist classic of the era," according to Wikipedia.

Gillian G. Gaar, author of She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (2002), described the single and corresponding video as a "strong feminist statement", an "anthem of female solidarity" and a "playful romp celebrating female camaraderie."

The "Rolling Stone & MTV: '100 Greatest Pop Songs': 1-50", "Rolling Stone: "The 100 Top Music Videos"" and the "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" lists ranked the song at #22, #39 and #45, respectively.

The song was written by Robert Hazard, who recorded it in 1979. He wrote it from a male point of view. For Lauper's version, she changed the lyrics slightly to allow it to be performed by a female and Hazard approved the minor changes.

The song received a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.